Soccer-Tottenham suspend Bissouma over nitrous oxide video
LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur have suspended midfielder Yves Bissouma for Monday's Premier League opener at Leicester City after a video showing him inhaling nitrous oxide was posted on social media.
The 27-year-old apologised after last weekend's incident involving the Class C substance also known as laughing gas.
"He won't be available on Monday. We've suspended him for Monday's game," manager Ange Postecoglou told reporters at his pre-match news conference on Thursday. "He needs to build that trust back with both me and the group.
"The door is open for him and hopefully we can help him realise the decisions he makes impact the group."
Nitrous oxide is illegal to use as an inhalant after it was classified as a Class C drug by Britain's government last year.
"I've been in the game for a long time. When a situation like this arises, I've tried to look at them in a couple of ways. First, there's a person, it's Biss and he's made a poor decision," Australian Postecoglou said.
"The second part of that is he's a footballer, with responsibilities. It's down to behaviour, mate, it's that simple. It's about making better decisions.
"He was very apologetic to me, the club and everyone involved but that's just part of it."
Tottenham's new signing Dominic Solanke could be in line for his debut at Leicester following the striker's move from Bournemouth in a deal worth a reported 65 million pounds ($83.38 million).
"Football-wise you can see he has all the attributes we need. He still needs time to fit in. He's fitting in well with the group and training," Postecoglou said.
"We've still got a couple of training sessions to go but he's doing well. He should be available."
($1 = 0.7795 pounds)
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